The transformer station has no electricity because it is waiting for... the line?

Urgent project

The Tan Ky 110kV Transmission Line and Substation Project was approved by the Ministry of Industry and Trade on January 21, 2019 in Decision No. 103/QD-BCT, and the Technical Design was approved on December 6, 2020. This is a Group B project, a level II energy project, invested by the Power Grid Project Management Board, under the Northern Power Corporation, with a total investment of nearly 182 billion VND.

The project has a total length of 26,074 km, passing through the communes of Ky Tan (Tan Ky) and Xuan Son, Lac Son, Thinh Son, Van Son, Dong Son, Giang Son Dong of Do Luong district. This is a station in the list of effective power grid projects in small and medium-sized cities using ODA loans from the German Government (kfW3).

In particular, the Tan Ky 110kV transformer station is newly built according to the unmanned station model and is designed with a scale of 2 transformers of 40MVA (one transformer will be installed in the first phase). As for the transmission line system, a new 110kV line will be built from the Do Luong 220kV station to the Tan Ky 110kV station, of which the 2-circuit section is 22.704 km long, the 3-circuit section with 2-circuit suspension is 3.37 km long.

This project, once completed, is expected to meet the electricity supply needs for loads in Tan Ky district and neighboring areas of Nghe An province; reduce the radius of the medium voltage grid; reduce power loss on the line and reduce the load for the 110kV Do Luong transformer station and the 110kV Nghia Dan transformer station.

The construction and operation of the project will improve the safety factor, stabilize the power system and create the premise for the gradual development of smart distribution grids in densely populated areas in medium and small cities/towns.

After a period of preparation, on November 24, 2021, in Ky Tan commune, where the 110kV transformer station is located, the Power Grid Project Management Board - Northern Power Corporation coordinated with Nghe An Power Company and the construction contractor to organize the project groundbreaking ceremony. At that time, the project was expected to be completed and put into use on May 19, 2022. Tan Ky people were very happy with the project's groundbreaking, because this locality always suffers from "unstable" electricity because it is at the end of the source.

However, although construction has started for nearly 3 years, and the Tan Ky transformer station has been completed, due to the pole and power line system being stuck in the land in Do Luong, it cannot be completed and put into operation.

Mr. Nguyen Van Thuc - Vice Chairman of Tan Ky District People's Committee said: This project is the desire of Tan Ky people and neighboring areas. With a stable power grid, Tan Ky hopes to attract many investment projects.

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Now, attracting investment while electricity is always overloaded and unstable, how can investors feel secure?

Mr. Nguyen Van Thuc - Vice Chairman of Tan Ky District People's Committee

At many meetings with voters, Tan Ky residents have also petitioned the People's Councils at all levels to speed up the project's progress to meet the electricity supply needs of this area. The investor and local authorities have met many times to discuss options, but so far all the bottlenecks have not been resolved.

Need to complete documents soon to change the purpose of forest land use

Based on the concerns of Vice Chairman of Tan Ky District People's Committee Nguyen Van Thuc, we conducted a survey along the 110kV line passing through. At Hamlet 6, Ky Tan Commune, the transformer station has been basically completed, the system of poles and wires leading to the station has also been installed.

Going down to Do Luong, up to now, only 67/78 column foundation positions have been completed, while 11 column foundation positions in Van Son, Dong Son, Hong Son, and Giang Son Dong communes have revealed shortcomings and cannot be constructed yet.

Regarding this issue, at the meeting with the Northern Power Corporation on March 4, 2024 to hear about the progress and solutions to remove difficulties and obstacles in the 110kV power grid projects being implemented in the province. Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Le Hong Vinh also assigned the People's Committee of Do Luong district to preside over and coordinate with investors and related units to unify the plan and speed up the construction progress.

Particularly for the section passing through Van Son commune, the Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee assigned the People's Committee of Do Luong district to preside over and coordinate with relevant units to study and adjust some column positions, adjust design solutions, and increase clearance height to minimize the impact on the project of planting Doi trees combined with experiential education and ecotourism in Van Son and Thinh Son communes, Do Luong district and other related projects...

However, according to Mr. Nguyen Trong Hoi - Head of Economic - Infrastructure Department, Do Luong District People's Committee, at many meetings, the provincial leaders also directed the district to coordinate with the Investor to agree on some adjustments and speed up the progress. However, up to this point, the Investor has not yet completed the documents. Especially at the location of columns 33 to 37 in Van Son commune (passing through the Doi tree planting project combined with experiential education and ecotourism in Van Son and Thinh Son communes), the competent authority has not yet approved the adjusted design documents, so the District Compensation and Site Clearance Support Council has no basis to prepare the compensation and site clearance support documents.

It is worth mentioning that at some pole locations in Van Son and Dong Son communes, to ensure that the affected areas are not within natural forest areas, the People's Committee of Do Luong district also sent an official dispatch requesting the Do Luong Forest Protection Department to inspect. As a result, these locations are all within planted forest areas.

Even for some column foundations in Dong Son and Hong Son communes, the Investor has also advanced funds to affected households for on-site construction (Dong Son has 4 households with more than 19 million VND; Hong Son has 1 household with more than 13 million VND). Or in Giang Son Dong, a draft compensation plan has been prepared for 7 households with a total amount of nearly 38 million VND.

According to the representative of the Compensation and Site Clearance Support Council of Do Luong district, because the positions of these columns affect forest land but the Provincial People's Council has not yet approved the Resolution on changing the purpose of forest land use, there is no basis for implementing the next steps.

In addition, there are 90,659.1 square meters of forest land affected by the power grid safety corridor that has not been approved by the Provincial People's Council for the Resolution on changing the purpose of forest land use, and has not been approved by the competent authority to measure and adjust the cadastral map of the land.

Regarding the area of ​​forest land affected by the project, Mr. Tran Van Hien - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Do Luong district said that this is the responsibility of the investor. The district has also sent many documents requesting the investor to complete the dossier according to regulations so that the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development can synthesize and advise the Provincial People's Committee to submit to the Provincial People's Council for consideration and approval of the change of forest use purpose. However, up to this point, it has not been completed.